Qatar Airways Cargo and its ground handler Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (Hactl) have teamed up to provide an extra layer of security for the airline’s ex-Hong Kong flights, using technical detection dogs to sniff out hidden lithium batteries in air cargo.
The detection service is being provided by leading specialist MSA Security®. The dogs are specially trained to detect specific odours, resulting in their ability to detect lithium batteries, whether they are in loose, palletised or containerised cargo.
Qatar Airways Cargo and Hactl are the first carrier and cargo handler in Hong Kong to utilise trained sniffer dogs for lithium battery detection. The carrier’s decision to use dogs rather than traditional X-ray detection alone was due to the difficulty of reliably identifying lithium batteries via X-ray images, particularly for e-commerce shipments containing multiple types of product in small packages.
Hactl is already conducting trials with another major operator, and plans to offer the technical detection dog service option to all of its customer carriers, as per a release.